Educational Psychology Service

The Educational Psychology Service (EPS) consists of a group of
educational psychologists working for Medway Council and with
children and young people aged up to 25 years, their teachers,
parents, carers and other professionals. Most of their work is with
children/young people who are in mainstream schools and also
those who have specialised needs or who attend special schools or
mainstream units, such as those with significant learning,
behaviour, physical, language or sensory needs.

The focus is primarily on helping school staff to support
children and young people as early as possible. The EPS also
advises the council about how to meet the needs of all
children/young people, whether they have special educational needs
or not.

The EPS has a legal duty to provide psychological advice to the
council in the event of a child or pupil being assessed for
an Education, Health and Care Plan of their special
educational needs. This is known as the Statutory Assessment
Procedure.

The EPS also links with other agencies when appropriate, such as
the health service and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Service.

Trainee Educational Psychologists

The EPS also offers placements for Trainee
Educational Psychologists (TEPs) in Years 2 and 3 of their Doctoral
training course. This is organised through the London and
South East Universities’ placement panel. TEPs are highly
valued members of our team, and we are able to offer good
supervision, opportunities for strategic work, and high quality
administration support within a compact and close team. TEPs will
need to have use of their own car when working in Medway.

Quotes from our 2017 Year 3 TEPs

“Joining Medway Educational Psychology Service (EPS) has been an
invaluable part of my journey to becoming a fully qualified
Educational Psychologist. The service has built an excellent
partnership with the schools in the area which means you are
entering an atmosphere of trust and openness when you come to
planning work. The allocation of your own patch of schools enables
autonomy and provides the opportunity to develop critical
negotiation skills. My most positive reflection around the second
year of training was the empowering experience of forming
relationships with schools and using these to contract innovative
work. From this, I have been able to develop skills in systemic
consultation, facilitating group work and therapeutic
intervention.

The flexibility in Medway allows you to
explore different ways of working and shape the type of EP you
would like to be. This means the team hold a variety of skills and
particular interests which they are more than open to sharing. The
team empathise with the trainee role and formal supervision is
always protected in addition to peer supervision sessions. I feel
Medway have given me the perfect balance of experiencing the real
world of EP practice whilst providing a highly supportive,
enjoyable environment.”

“As a trainee EP in Medway, I’ve been given
the right balance of responsibility and support. As a result, I
feel prepared for life as a newly qualified EP. I’ve had my own
patch of schools from the outset. This means I’ve formed productive
professional relationships with school leaders and staff and
developed a first-hand appreciation for how important this is to
successful EP practice. My supervision is excellent. I’ve been
encouraged to explore EP work at different levels, including
complex work for individual young people, staff training and
project work. The whole team are extremely knowledgeable and make
time to talk to you. Everyone is genuinely interested in how your
work is going and openly enthusiastic about exploring any
challenges you’re experiencing. Medway’s compact geography means
that there’s always someone in the office to check-in with. I’ve
really valued the team’s collaborative and connected working
culture and understand that this is something that larger local
authority services struggle to do as well. Ultimately if you’re
placed in Medway, you’ll feel like (and be) a valued member of the
team!”